Driver found guilty in trooper's death gets one year in jail

Monday

Jun 23, 2014 at 4:25 PMJun 24, 2014 at 11:34 AM

Sgt. Douglas Weddleton of Brockton was struck and killed in 2010

Staff Reporter

BROCKTON – A driver found guilty of vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a state trooper from Brockton was sentenced Monday to serve one year in jail, and he cannot drive for 15 years. State police Sgt. Douglas Weddleton, 52, was killed on June 16, 2010, when he was struck by a vehicle while working a construction detail on Interstate 95 in Mansfield.

Anthony Perry Jr., 51, of Hyde Park, was found guilty of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation, a misdemeanor, by a Fall River jury earlier this month, said Gregg M. Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.

Perry was sentenced to serve one year in jail and a three-year probation upon his release, Miliote said. He also lost his license for 15 years and was ordered not to seek a license reinstatement or get a license from another state. Conditions of his release are that Perry not use drugs or alcohol, submit to random drug and alcohol screenings, and complete any treatment programs to be determined by the probation department, Miliote said.

Perry was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and perform 50 hours of community service annually.

Miliote said the maximum sentence for motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation, which is a misdemeanor, is 21/2 years.

Perry, who was sentenced in the Fall River Justice Center on Monday afternoon, is one of two drivers charged in Weddleton’s death.

In 2010, a Bristol County grand jury returned indictments charging Perry and Kenneth Weiand, then 43, of Walpole, with motor vehicle homicide in the death of Weddleton, a married father of four.

When reached at their home on Monday, the Weddleton family declined to comment.

The indictments charged both men with “motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and/or while driving negligently so as to endanger.”

No trial date has been set yet for Weiand.

Police said the accident occurred after Weddleton parked his state police cruiser across the highway’s off-ramp, blocking it to protect construction workers.

Police said Weiand attempted to drive his Acura around the parked cruiser. Weddleton pulled him over to speak with him and was struck and killed by Perry’s vehicle when he went to speak with Weiand.